Death Meets Despair
by Balanced Chaos
Summary: Nico gets injured in the Underworld, and finds a friend worse than an enemy.


Pain. Fierce pain throughout his whole body. Nico di Angelo stumbled along, following the flow of the River Lethe. It had been one of his less attractive excursions to the Underworld. Usually, since his dad ruled the place, Nico was safe in the Underworld. Well, as safe as a demigod in the land of the dead could be. But today he'd taken a wrong turn, and ended up fighting a newly reformed Chimaera, fresh from Tartarus. And although he'd struck the final blow, its acid breath had seared off a lot of his skin. Deciding he'd gone far enough, Nico plopped down by the side of the Lethe, and breathed through the pain of the burns.

Nico had run away again. Not that anyone knew he'd really run away. They probably just thought he'd gone off as usual. No one ever realized that he wasn't just going off on moody strolls; he was fleeing from _him. _From the thought of him, from the memory. Fleeing from the pain, the torture of always being near him, and yet always drifting further from him. And more than that, fleeing from the cold hatred he knew everyone else would have for him if they knew. Children of Hades were outcasts, cursed already. To like another boy as well? No one would be able to accept him. Oh, they would try. They would pretend that it didn't bother them. Nico chuckled despairingly. Annabeth, Grover, Piper, Chiron. They'd all smile whenever they felt his gaze. But inside they would cringed at him. At his "unnatural" powers. At his "unnatural" feelings. He was just an outsider to them. Unnatural.

Suddenly a rasping voice said, "You realize that the solution to all of this is right beside you, Nico di Angelo." Startled and caught unawares, Nico stared around wildly at the stony, hot landscape. Only a few feet away from him, a ghastly woman stood. She was as thin as a skeleton. Each of her bones was easily seen, her skin stretched taut across her skeleton. Her cheeks bled profusely, even though she didn't look like she has any blood in her. Her face was contorted in a look of utmost torture.

"Akhlys, I take it?" Nico said, instinctively grabbing his sword hilt. He had heard of this goddess but hadn't thought she would leave Tartarus for any reason; just moving probably caused pain to her.

"Yes. The one and only goddess of misery and despair." replied the shriveled old goddess. Nico sat up, even though it caused him great pain.

"Calm down now, Nico di Angelo," Akhlys said, smiling. Even her smile looked like torture. "I haven't come to fight you, my dear child."

"Dear child?" grimaced Nico, "You hate humanity, Akhlys. Why would you come if not to cause me more misery? I'm not an idiot." Akhlys again flashed her smile of a thousand deaths.

"Who said I hate humanity? I don't hate humans; I just love their suffering. And why should I injure you? You who are so entrenched in sweet sorrow already? Nico, I just came to entertain myself."

"By watching me suffer?"

"You got it!" cackled the hag, though it sounded a lot like a coughing fit. Nico didn't relax however, and prepared to shadow travel away. He couldn't be sure however that Akhlys would let him go; she was a goddess. Possibly she could intercept him. And Nico wasn't sure his wounds would hold up under emergency travel through the essence of darkness. But it was a risk worth taking if she attacked.

"You still aren't relaxing." Akhlys said.

"I don't let my guard down around enemies." Nico replied.

"Oh, what a rude thing to say!" Akhlys moaned, "When I have been your companion for all this time."

"What!?" Nico exclaimed, but then it hit him. "Oh, right. Misery."

"Yes. And yours is perhaps the sweetest kind. Sorrow from love. Love that is wrong, love that will only hurt you and sting others, love that is unrequited, and never will be wanted, love that-"

"Enough!" Nico shouted, face filled with anguish. A wave of darkness undulated through the air, but when it hit Akhlys, she basked in it like it was a fresh spring breeze.

"Oh, yes. Such sweet pain and despair." Akhlys sighed/wheezed. Nico scowled, but his mind was now filled completely with thoughts of how hopeless his life was, all his fears and doubts. Akhlys' presence seemed to be increasing his sadness and depression.

"And yet, why don't you remove all that despair?" Akhlys said.

"What do you mean?" Nico growled.

"Here you lie next to the river of forgetfulness," Akhlys answered pointing a shaking hand at the murky waters, "the Lethe. All your doubt could be removed. Its magic could erase Percy Jackson from your mind forever. Remove Bianca from your recollection. All that pain, gone in an instant." It dawned on Nico what she said was true. _Percy…_ every time Nico thought that name, he was flooded with guilt and fear. That could all go away. He could go back to camp, completely free of those painful memories. The Lethe, maybe it could destroy his feelings for Percy, free him from them. Nico stared at the river, the possibilities filling his mind. He could try again. Another chance to gain acceptance. Start all over, like Iapetus. Akhlys watched his gears turn with a cruel smile. But suddenly Nico's expression turned to pain, and he turned his head from the river.

"I-I won't fall for such a trick." Nico said. But Akhlys just began to laugh hysterically.

"Oh-ho! Won't fall for my trick, eh? There is no trick and you know it. The Lethe could end your pain and suffering, just as it does for so many dead souls every day. But you can't do that. Love truly is the sweetest sorrow; you could never let go of Percy Jackson." Akhlys' words stung, and Nico knew they were all true. Nico could consider erasing his memories, freeing himself of sorrow and pain, but when he tried to imagine not knowing Percy, he suddenly felt cold and empty.

"This is why I truly came," gloated Akhlys, "Many know sorrow, Nico di Angelo, but few have the strength to retain their despair when the way out is so close."

"You're a jerk." Nico growled.

"Everyone seems to think so." Akhlys replied. "The common view is that sorrow is the enemy of happiness, that it is the opposite of contentment. Yet, if that was so, why must the Muses pay tribute to me? There is no song or story that I have no part in. Sorrow is beautiful in its own way." Filled with both physical and emotional anguish, Nico didn't agree, but he didn't feel up to arguing either.

"You will continue, Nico di Angelo." Akhlys continued, "You will live with your sorrows and suffer with your woes, at least for a while. But the only way you will be separated from them is by the Lethe. Unless you find contentment in sorrow, only forgetting will bring you peace. And peace without him," she cackled again, "is a nightmare for you." And still hacking, Akhlys dissolved into a pool of acid, leaving Nico alone on the banks of the Lethe.

This is my first story of , and is a sort of tribute to the my favorite and most tragic character in the Percy Jackson series. I might continue with this story a little, but I hope anyone that read this short story enjoyed it. Or was depressed. Whichever feels you prefer.


End file.
